Chapter 20: The Second Signal
When Joshua, using his Steel Force vision, easily saw through the Dragon Girl before him as essentially a mass of shapable slime, he was briefly stunned.
Syndicate... wasn't she a Flame Demon? No, no one said a Flame Demon had to be male; that was a thinking trap... and also wrong! Flame Demons had no gender at all! But even so, why would Syndicate choose Lisa's form to shape? This completely defied everyday understanding!
The subsequent situation was difficult to describe in words. In short, a few minutes later, when Joshua arrived at the main gate of the Lord's Manor holding a dejected Black in one hand and a listless Syndicate in the other, a large crowd from the manor immediately gathered around, asking questions with expressions of surprise. Among them was even the genuine Lisa, who had just returned from the factory district with Ying, apparently having bought some furniture for a new house.
Some time ago, Lisa had suddenly said she didn't want to live in the school dormitory anymore and wanted to find a house of her own to live in alone. No one would refuse such a normal request. As for money, if Lisa's credits were converted into precious metals, they would be enough to buy a standalone villa near the Lord's Manor. But the Dragon Girl only bought a small building in the factory district of the South City and moved in immediately.
The environment of the factory district wasn't actually very good, but the higher magical radiation wasn't a problem for Lisa. A pair of enthusiastic siblings even lived next door, and she heard the brother was also a member of Winterfell Academy.
Hearing this, Lin summed it up most aptly: "So, because Syndicate turned into your likeness, to avoid misunderstandings and because you really didn't know how to explain it, you simply moved out first?"
"Actually, I wanted to move out anyway."
Scratching her head, Lisa smiled shyly: "But mainly, I wanted a home of my own. It feels more secure that way."
On the other side, Syndicate was confessing openly.
"Lord, when you helped me shape last time, you said I could create a new body according to my own wishes."
The Flame Demon was now sitting obediently on a chair, recounting the specific details: "But I'm a Flame Demon at heart. I thought for a long time but couldn't figure out how to construct a human body... When I got home and slept, I woke up groggy and had turned into this."
"Instinct, huh... Staying inside Lisa's body as part of her for too long caused not just bloodline intermingling, but even the essence of life began to influence each other."
Joshua wasn't interrogating him; he was mainly curious about the Flame Demon's form transformation. But thinking about it carefully, this was normal. Higher Slimes and Abyss Oozes did have the ability to transform by devouring other creatures and acquiring their forms. Syndicate's original body was naturally the same, even more advanced, capable of adapting to the surrounding environment and even strengthening its form.
But unlike other similar beings, they devoured other creatures to gain a tangible body. Syndicate, in a sense, had been devoured by Lisa for over half a year, reversely affecting her own bloodline essence... How embarrassing. No, Flame Demon.
To be honest, the term 'Flame Demon' was no longer quite fitting. At this point, Syndicate was more adept at using the electromagnetic power inherited from the Thunder Ancient Dragon. As for the power of a Flame Demon, only the 'heat generation' aspect remained, at most serving as a hot water bottle for Lisa in winter.
"Cheer up. At least Lisa's form is beautiful. Much better than if you turned into an ugly monster."
Ying patted Syndicate's shoulder carelessly: "And if you turned into a man, you couldn't keep living with Lisa. Cohabiting with an underage girl? You'd be thrown into the Moldavia Grand Prison."
Syndicate: "Mm, ah, oh..."
"Exactly!"
Black, with a small ball of light on his head, added fuel to the fire: "You used Lisa's cute image to trick me into going out to play cards! How outrageous!" "Jingle jingle! (How outrageous!)"
Syndicate: "..."
In the end, it was just a small incident, nothing major. According to Number 3, it was thinking of someone day and night that caused one to turn into that someone. The group was rarely all together, so they had a meal at the Lord's Manor. Unfortunately, the First Squad was on a mission in the Ural Mountains at the time, otherwise they could have been called over too, and Joshua's student team would have been complete. But even so, Joshua encouraged them through the information terminal.
At this point, the original four members of the First Squad were about to graduate. Through six or seven years of excellent training and high-intensity combat, their strength was nearing the Gold Realm. In fact, the leader, Ivan, had already touched the Gold barrier during the last exploration of the underground world and had recently stepped into the Gold Realm. But unlike Joshua, who stabilized immediately upon entering, he still needed some time to settle and fully stabilize his leap in power level.
Aside from Ivan, his sister Amira had specialized into a Dragon-Riding Mage—basically, a mage who raises dragons. This former hunter girl possessed an incredibly terrifying elemental affinity. Without interference, she could rapidly release a large number of high-power spells, turning a small forest to ash. She was a true artillery platform. Currently, the First Squad protected her, but once the White Dragon grew up, she would be able to fight independently.
And Kaelin, who was unassuming and even exceptionally low-key, was also close to breaking through to the Gold Realm. She had already constructed a stable Elemental Furnace within her body, allowing her to rapidly recover mana by consuming stored magical substances and release spells far beyond her level. The structure of this Elemental Furnace was actually a precursor to the Fusion Core Heart within Joshua's body. As long as Kaelin advanced step by step, she would one day become a being capable of controlling the power of the sun.
The Seventh Prince, Alva, was progressing normally. His Battle Qi was steadily rising, not a cause for concern, but with no surprising developments. The same went for his magic. However, he had recently learned to cook excellent dishes, leaving the rest of the team in awe. He had even learned to assemble Mana Puppets, showing an incredible talent in Mana Engineering.
The Dwarf Nick was the most unique of them all... He was currently in seclusion in a secret location, not participating in the First Squad's mission. He was reportedly using enhancement magic and mana elements to transform his body, sublimating his life essence, and gradually becoming a Transcendent Being beyond ordinary humans. To be honest, this was a direct path to the Legendary Realm, similar to the path of the Legendary Rune Mage (Ultimate Essence of Force), Baniel. If Joshua had to say which of his students was most likely to reach the Ultimate Essence first, it would undoubtedly be Nick, not even the currently strongest Lisa.
After the meal, Lisa happily took Syndicate's hand, bid farewell to Joshua and the others, and returned to her house in the South City district. The people in the Lord's Manor watched them leave and then began tidying up as usual.
Joshua returned to the study. He hadn't been here for quite a while. The warrior reached out and touched the world map hanging on one wall of the study. It was dotted with numerous red and black spots, some with a few lines of small text beneath them.
Those were the various major events he had recorded on the map at the beginning of his transmigration, such as the targets of the Mad Dragon's assault, the Imperial civil war, the strongholds of various princes and princesses, and the gathering places of some cultists... All sorts of things. What he remembered back then was basically marked on it, reminding him of how dangerous the world he was in was.
But now... Joshua chuckled lightly and waved his hand. Silver light flickered. The old, yellowed map of the continent was replaced and put into a drawer. A brand new 3D projection appeared on the wall—it was a model of the World Star River where the entire Mycroft World was located! Countless stars could be seen shimmering with light, and a conspicuous red star flickered at the edge, which was the location of the Mycroft World.
But Joshua still seemed unsatisfied. He shook his head and shrunk the massive World Star River model down to an infinitesimal size. Then, at a place extremely far from the World Star River, he lit up a bright, enormous light orb, so vast that even billions upon billions of worlds combined couldn't compare... That was a virtual model of the First Flame, because no words in existence could describe it, nor anything could imitate it. Apart from that small cluster of the World Star River and the First Flame, the entire Multiverse was pitch black, shrouded in dark mist.
Joshua nodded.
This was the Multiverse in his mind.
Then, the warrior stood before this model, sinking into a long contemplation. Lin, who opened the door to clean the study, saw Joshua like this and quietly closed the door and left. Number 3 and Ying also took a peek and then stopped disturbing him.
The next morning, Joshua sighed, stopped staring at the Multiverse model, turned around and left, continuing his experiments on the 'Restorative Pillar' and honing his own power. Busy and fulfilling days flew by, and time quickly arrived at March 3rd, Year 838 of the Falling Stars Era.
On this day, Joshua, who was still systematically optimizing the Restorative Pillar in the Dust-Free Laboratory beneath Winterfell, received a notification from the Nameless Technician.
"Sir, there's a communication from the Church of the Seven Gods. Please connect."
The Nameless Technician had awakened the day after his coma. Upon learning that the civilization he had hoped for didn't actually exist and that his original world of despair had been reshaped by the Steel Serpent, he sighed and gave up the idea of returning to the Siberia World.
"It's meaningless. Even if my kin rebuild their civilization, it won't be what I expected... Besides, this world is more interesting, isn't it?"
The Nameless one's words were straightforward, with no intention of hiding anything: "Since I've come to a new world, I'll live in this new world. People always have to move forward and look ahead."
As for the Nameless one's name, it was simply 'Nameless', a decision he made himself. According to him, some people were called 'Bush', some 'Wild Boar', and some people's names literally meant 'So-and-so's son', so it didn't matter if he was called 'No Name'. In short, the Nameless one was now a specially appointed lecturer in Soul Studies and Puppetry at Winterfell Academy, undergoing teacher training, preparing to open a new subject called 'Intelligent Constructs' under the Mana Constructs Department in the future.
Before he officially took office, he occasionally acted as Joshua's experimental assistant, helping him handle matters related to the Restorative Pillar experiment.
Upon hearing the Nameless one's words, Joshua stopped his work. He strode out of the laboratory, frowning as he asked, "The Church of the Seven Gods? Does the Old Pope have something to discuss with me? I have a feeling it's not good news."
But it turned out Joshua's premonition was wrong this time.
"Joshua, unprecedented good news!"
In the communication room, on the other side of the light screen, Joshua rarely saw Pope Eagle show such a happy expression. In his memory, this old man, who had toiled for the people of the Mycroft World all his life, was usually full of worry and rarely laughed heartily from the heart.
But now, the other party was smiling and stroking his white beard, not even minding accidentally pulling one out, causing the beard to dissipate into Holy Light: "A few days ago, during a routine patrol of the Void, the Holy Mountain warship received an unexpected signal—we received a distress signal from the Unified Grand Database again!"
"Really?!"
This time, even Joshua couldn't help but raise his voice: "Can you determine the location? Since you were prepared this time, even if you can't pinpoint the coordinates, you should at least be able to narrow down the possible range, right?"
"Indeed, we have confirmed the region where the signal is coming from!"
On the other side of the light screen, the Old Pope's expression was quite emotional: "It's completely different from what we initially guessed. The source of the signal is located in a dark void within the Void Great Maelstrom. The starlight there is dim, and most are dead worlds, so it wasn't a key investigation target from the start. The possible range we initially selected was far too different from this area. If we had searched blindly, we might not have found any clues even now!"
Initially, Eagle and Joshua had planned to give up on rescuing the guardians in the Unified Grand Database because they simply lacked the strength. The Void was too vast, and people were too few. Without accurate signal coordinates, searching the Void was a major operation measured in decades. To save some people who were destined to die, wasting a world's already scarce Void-level power was too emotional and completely against the interests of civilization. Of course, absolute rationality wasn't their wish either. They were just completely in the dark and didn't know where to start. Considering the difficulty of information transmission in the Void, the target might have died long ago, making rescue impossible.
But this time, with a general area locked down, searching for the world wasn't a difficult task. As long as the target was clear and its survival was confirmed, a rescue operation could be attempted.
"This signal's content is similar to the last one. It says the internal circulation array has been damaged, and they are barely surviving. But recently, a large amount of tiny material clouds appeared in the empty, nothingness of the dark void where they are located. By collecting these materials, they managed to hold on until now and sent out a second distress signal."
Eagle said this, transmitting the collected original planetary data to Joshua. After sensing it for a moment, Joshua nodded seriously: "It seems they can hold on for a while longer. We can start the operation."
"Since we couldn't save them before, we had to give up. But now that we know the range, it would be too much not to try."
The Old Pope nodded with relief. He had always been troubled by his inability to save the guardians of the Grand Database, sighing at his own powerlessness. But now that things had taken a turn, he was genuinely happy: "Indeed, after all, they are our compatriots."
"Then, I'll go notify Israel and Nostradamus next. I'll go to the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground later."
After a brief moment of thought, Joshua immediately made a decision: "It's about time for the Imperial Foreign Exploration Department to conduct its first practical exploration... And my creation."
Saying this, the warrior turned his head, his gaze piercing through the wall to the Restorative Pillar in the Primordial Dust-Free Laboratory. He revealed an intriguing smile: "We can finally truly test its effectiveness."